Alot of questions that i need help with. PLEASE!

My main problem. I am trying to get my wii to run backups of my games from an externel hard drive.

I had 4.0E and managed to install homebrew fine then was able to install app that let me rip my games over wifi that worked fine.

I found a wiki to install USB Loader GX installled it, but when i opened it it could not see my hard drive i tryed 2 different hard drives and multiple flash drives but no dice!

When i was installing the usb loader there was a stage where i had to use one of the wiizard programs which plays heavy music, it downloaded all the files but then once it came to install it got an error (1029 i think?)

Is there an easy way for me to install the usb loader?

Does the error that i get cause the wii to see my HD?

now im on 4.1E am i even more screwed?

when i try and downgrade my IOS35 the wii drops internet connect but any other app that needs to access the internet can do so fine. is this a possible bricking?

Finally is there a way for me to wipe the wii back to the state it was in when i first got it?

Any help on this mountain of problems would be greatly appreciated!

PS sorry if im posting something that has already been answered 10 times over!